History VisualNovel / H2OFootprintsInTheSand

The visual novel was produced by Makura and released in 2006 for Windows, with a port for the Platform/PlayStation2 released in 2008. It was also adapted to an anime series by studio Zexcs, which aired from January to March 2008 for 12 episodes. The anime has has been licensed by Kadokawa [=USA=] for an English release.

''H₂O: Footprints in the Sand'' is an {{anime}} and VisualNovel centered around Hirose Takuma, a middle-school student who moves out to the country in order to recover from an illness. Said illness has caused him to go blind, even though the doctors cannot seem to find anything wrong with him from a physical standpoint.

A VisualNovel adaptation in the vein of ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' and other [[Creator/KyotoAnimation KyoAni]]/[[Creator/KeyVisualArts Key]] works, though the best comparison themetically and plot-wise would probably be ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo'' The show itself starts off slow, and rather cliched. However, towards the middle, it [[GrowingTheBeard improves quite a bit]], as the backstory of the characters and the revelations about the village's past supplant the HaremAnime and VisualNovel cliches that littered the beginning. The ending is quite the TearJerker, in any case.

The Visual Novel was produced by Makura, with the animated adaptation put together by studio Zexcs in 2008. The anime has has been licensed by Kadokawa [=USA=] for an English release. The title comes from the names of the main heroines (Hayami, Hinata, Otoha) and the well known ''Footprints'' poem, which is used as the main theme.

* AccidentalPervert: Takuma's blindess seems to facilitate this early on in the series.

* AlphaBitch: Played with. Yui acts like this, but the rest of the students just sort of laugh at her when she does so.
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: And [[{{WholesomeCrossdresser}} Hamaji]] is the father.]]
* BalloonBelly: Hayami in Episode 6
* BeachEpisode: Episode 4, doubles as a HotSpringsEpisode
* BigFancyHouse: Hinata, being the daughter of the village elder and all.
* BrainBleach: You might need it for the opener to episode 8.

* TheCameo: Misakura Rin from Makura's another game ''Sakura no Uta'' makes a small but rather an important appearance in Otoha's route in the game.
* ContrivedCoincidence:[[spoiler: Hayami is discussing about how she thinks that Takuma's mother didn't commit suicide because she thinks that his mother must have loved him, enough to not to think to leaving him all alone. Then suddenly a little boy who was never been seen before crosses the railroad while the train is moving in the exact same way as Takuma did when the ''unfortunate accident'' happened, therefore invoking Takuma's buried memory? That his mother died by saving another person?]]
* CuteClumsyGirl: Hinata, though like the other {{moe}} tropes, it is toned down as the series continues.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Otoha, in other words the ''real'' Hinata Kagura.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: Hayami, in a very classic example.
* DiabolusExMachina: This is what [[spoiler:kills Hayami. And then she comes back due to a DeusExMachina]].
* DisturbedDoves: When Hinata's grandfather [[spoiler:tries to shoot Hayami]].
* DraggedByTheCollar: Hinata's grandfather goes caveman on her in episode 7.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Hayami
* ExtremeDoormat: Hinata acts this way initially towards her grandfather.
* FantasticRacism: The anime version took this off.

* GeniusDitz: Otoha.

* {{Kawaiiko}}: Otoha, [[BerserkButton but, don't ever tell her that]]

* LaughingMad: [[spoiler:Takuma, right before regressing to childhood and becoming convinced that Hayami is his mother.]]
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The ''Footprints'' poem, as mentioned before.
* LonersAreFreaks: Hayami, at least in the beginning.

* NewTransferStudent: Takuma
* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler: Takuma and Hayami. It didn't even last one episode.]]

* RomanticRunnerUp: [[spoiler:Hinata.]]
* SinsOfOurFathers: Poor Hayami...
* {{Tsundere}}: Yui.
* TwelveEpisodeAnime
* UnsettlingGenderReveal[=/=]WholesomeCrossdresser: [[spoiler:Hamaji]], bonus points for doing TheReveal as part of the HotSpringsEpisode.

* WouldHitAGirl: ''Dear God.''

* ButtMonkey: Yui tends to be on the recieving end of more than her fair share of things.

* {{Bokukko}}: Otoha

* TheThingThatGoesDoink: Part of Hinata's BigFancyHouse.

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Hinata to Takuma in episode 11. [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero It doesn't work]], and actually sends Takuma further into a HeroicBSOD.]]

* UnwillingSuspension: Hayami ties Takuma up in a tree, after catching him peeping. Her walking towards him with a knife (to cut him down afterwards) was interpreted [[KnifeNut rather differently]] by Takuma. Her mentioning that that knife was used for cutting up naughty boys probably didn't help.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Episode 8 opens with Hayami and Hinata referring to Takuma as an older brother, Takuma's uncle has had a gender change, and Otoha, aside from being visible to everyone now, is apparently a MagicalGirl. Turns out that [[spoiler:it's AllJustADream, created for Takuma by Otoha as a way of showing him a good time, to say thanks for helping fix the village's problems.]]
** This may be a reference to her route in the VisualNovel which was titled "[[spoiler: Mahou Shoujo Magical Hinata]]".

Upon arriving at the country village, Takuma encounters the mysterious, yet [[GenkiGirl energetic]] Otoha, the self-proclaimed "Spirit of the Sounds of Time." Otoha offers Takuma, whom she refers to as "The Promised One," his sight back, if only for a short while. Takuma also encounters the enigamatic loner Kohinata Hayami, whom the rest of the village treats with an obvious grudge, for reasons Takuma can't seem to figure out. Not even Kagura Hinata, the granddaughter of the village elder, seems willing to fill him in. As Takuma refuses to stop acting friendly towards Hayami, he sets into action a chain of events that may change the entire village.

* ContrivedCoincidence:[[spoiler: Hayami is discussing about how she thinks that Takuma's mother didn't commit suicide because she thinks that his mother must have loved him, enough to not to think to leaving him all alone. Then suddenly a little boy who never been seen before crosses the railroad while the train is moving in the exact same way as Takuma did when the ''unfortunate accident'' happened, therefore invoking Takuma's buried memory? That his mother died by saving another person?]]

A VisualNovel adaptation in the vein of ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' and other [[Creator/KyotoAnimation KyoAni]]/[[Creator/KeyVisualArts Key]] works, though the best comparison themetically and plot-wise would probably be ''VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo''. The show itself starts off slow, and rather cliched. However, towards the middle, it [[GrowingTheBeard improves quite a bit]], as the backstory of the characters and the revelations about the village's past supplant the HaremAnime and VisualNovel cliches that littered the beginning. The ending is quite the TearJerker, in any case.